Nyx
Nyx was a Pixie living in the forested Darklands during the New Age. The leader of the Stout Root clan, he may have been as old as 600 years of age. He wore armor made from the exoskeleton of a defeated red scorpion. He had an amicable relationship with the butterfly princess Mariposa, though he had a reputation for being obnoxious and difficult at times. His name was normally pronounced "Nicks," but he routinely invented new pronunciations, as well as official titles for himself, seemingly on a whim. According to Wazzipaloo, Nyx behaved in this manner deliberately, a calculated ruse intended to get others to lower their defenses around him. She said he was much more intelligent than he appeared to be. At some point, after a rampaging dragon beetle lumbered through the forest, Nyx discovered a piece of the World-Breaker that had been buried underground. After some curious experimentation, he discovered that the weapon was capable of emitting bursts capable of breaking even the supposedly-indestructible bloodrock stone. It was soon afterwards that Nyx forged a symbiotic relationship with Mariposa: she would provide protection for the pxies living in the forest, and in return, Nyx would provide her with weapons and armor, using bloodrock gems as the weapon blades or embedded within the armor, carefully cut into facets. He kept his methodology a well-guarded secret, thus ensuring his usefulness to Mariposa and the butterfly people. The Lost Treasure of Torlynn The butterfly princess Mariposa consulted Nyx as to the possible location of the butterfly people after her kinsmen disappeared. Nyx revealed to her, after a great deal of coaxing from Mariposa, that he heard humans had begun hunting aerials, and that they would have taken captive butterfly people to the human town of Darkholm. As a regular supplier of weapons and armor for Marposa, Nyx also told her that he was working on a new bloodrock sword for her to replace her smaller dagger, though he did not reveal the secret of how he crafted the blade. Later, Nyx was alerted to the explosion on Mermaid Island and discovered that two of Mariposa's companions, Four and Christabel, had blown a hole in their ship while attempting to blast it loose from the shore. Nyx and the pixies were able to fashion a latticework of gold embedded with small bloodrock gems that replaced the missing section of the hull, helping themselves to all the distilled beverages on board the ship as payment. The Quest for the World-Breaker Following the decimation of the butterfly people during the Battle of Torlynn, Nyx expressed concerns to Mariposa about their ability to continue providing adequate protection for the pixies. Despite his misgivings, he still provided Mariposa the new sword he had promised her. Later, Four and Mirabel arrived in the forest aboard Xanthippe in search of the pieces to the World-Breaker. At first, Nyx was reluctant to part with the device that made the pixiesmiths the masters of the indestructible bloodrock, but Mirabel was eventually able to persuade Nyx to give them the weapon component. After the remaining butterfly people were invited to live at a newly-discovered butterfly encampment, Mariposa attempted to find Nyx and inform him they were leaving, but she was unable to find him. Embarrassment of Riches At some point, Nyx had acquired a magic-nullifying sphere that rendered most magical incantations inert. He used it to protect the Pixie clan, as it radiated a field that disabled magic weapons and prevented anyone from finding the Pixies through magical means. In unctual year 3892, Wazzipaloo stole the spell-jamming sphere from Nyx, using it to try to help her friend Four. Alternate Reality In one alternate unfolding of reality, visited by Four while using the fate-shifter, Nyx sentenced Wazzipaloo to death after Four revealed she had told him about Nyx's possession of a piece of the World-Breaker, which was a closely-guarded Pixie secret. Behind the Scenes Nyx is mentioned in ''Embarrassment of Riches'', but does not appear in the story proper. Nyx was named after Onyx, one of the author's former pet cats. Nyx Nyx Nyx